


Fill in the Blanks

by Uniasus



Series: Alternatives [3]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-07-30
Packaged: 2018-01-09 07:42:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1143339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uniasus/pseuds/Uniasus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>23 minutes is a short time, so obviously, we don't get the whole story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mystery Meat

When the green light faded from the portal, Sam and Tucker took one look at each other before bursting into action.

“Danny!” They both cried, rushing into the metal doorway and not caring about the random spark here or there. They did care about the fact that there was no sign of their friend. 

“Man, he got turned to ashes.” 

Sam punched Tucker's shoulder, not a fan of the jovial tone, but she didn't make any other comment. She knew one of the things Danny and Tucker had in common was the use of humor and sarcasm as a defense mechanism.

“Maybe, maybe he's just further back.”

“Yeah.” Never mind the fact that they could see the back of the portal, and there was no Danny. They walked all the way there, put hands on warm metal, and began to feel the enormity of the situation settle on their shoulders. 

“What are we going to tell his parents?” Sam nibbled one of her fingernails.

“Ghosts took him?”

Sam shot him a glare and the black boy sagged. “What else can we say? We'll have to tell them what happened. We were curious about the portal, plugged it in, Danny went inside of it, there was a great big flash, and when it was gone so was Danny.”

Gone. Most likely – most likely something too dreadful to even think about.

They stood there, staring at the gray floors and walls of the cone shaped hole in the wall. 

“Should we, should we go?” Tucker asked.

“Yeah. No point delaying it. Oof!” Sam tripped over something as she started walking forward. Except that there was nothing there. She pushed off the ground to get back to her feet, but it wasn't the ground she pushed off of. Her hand was too high for that, resting on something soft and invisible. Sam halted halfway to her feet and instead settled into a crouch.

“Sam? You okay?” Tucker bent down next to her and she took his hand to lay it on the soft thing hers was still on. 

His eyes widened as he felt the invisible thing, and then slowly, it wasn't invisible. Under their hands, starting beneath their palms, a black fabric came into being. It quickly spread, reveling not only a black jump suit with white gloves and boots, but the pale and white haired body wearing it.

As soon as the figure appeared, it started fading into invisibility again.

“Oh no you don't!” Sam reached up to slap the boy's face before it faded from view entirely and he returned to the visible spectrum. 

“Sam, I'm pretty sure that's Danny.”

The white hair was new, and the jumpsuit was obviously not what he had been wearing when he went it, it was the reverse actually, but in Sam's eyes there was no denying the shape of Danny Fenton's face. It was no doubt their friend lying still on the ground before them, and he had gone through changes that made puberty a walk in the park. 

At least he was was still visible, and they had been staring at him for awhile.

“Help me get him out.” Sam commanded, moving to place her hands under Danny's arms. Tucker moved to the boy's feet and together they walked him out of the portal to set him down on the ground in the lab.

“Well, at least we don't have to tell his parents Danny is dead.” Now that it was obvious Danny wasn't, the unspoken taboo on that word had been lifted. 

“Yeah, but how do we tell them about this! This, this is not normal. Turning invisible?”

“And intangible.” Tucker added. “We walked right through him, had to have, getting to the back of the portal.”

“Doesn't that sound familiar?”

“What does?”

“Being invisible? Intangible? Those are things ghosts do.”

“Oh.” Tucker took a long look at Danny lying prone on the ground. “You don't think he actually...”

“I don't know.”

Things were so messed up and scary right now. Normally Sam would have shunned anything to do with adults, but right now she would have welcomed one coming down the stairs and knowing what to do. 

Danny groaned and the sound instantly had his friends kneeling beside him. 

“Danny?” Sam put a hand on his cheek and turned his face towards her. His skin was so cold. But there was an obvious flutter in the hollow of his throat as he breathed. Not dead then.

“Sam?” As if it was the hardest thing in the world to do, Danny opened his eyes.

“Dude, your eyes are glowing green!”

“What?”

“Something happened to you in the portal. Tucker, grab that...whatever it is on the counter behind you. It's reflective enough to act as a mirror.”

He did as asked, passing the device to Sam once she had finished helping Danny sit against the counter. Sam held it up in front of Danny's face, and even though she hadn't thought Danny could get any paler he did. 

“What happened?” Danny lifted a shaky hand to finger at his hair. It used to be black. And those glowing green eyes had previously been blue. “Why am I glowing?”

“You, uh, seem to be a ghost?” Tucker sounded like a strange mix of uncertainty, relief, fear, and amazement. “Not ten minutes ago, we walked through you and had no idea.”

“I can't be a ghost.” Danny placed a hand on his chest. “I'm still breathing. And I can feel my heart beat.”

Sam wanted to place her ear on Danny's chest to check for herself, to know without a doubt that her friend was okay if just a little different. But that would be awkward and and so she settled for just laying her hand on his chest. Tucker did too, looking for the same assurance. 

“So, you're half ghost?” Sam suggested, not knowing what else to say.

Both boys just looked at her. 

“What? Maybe you're like Spider-Man. His DNA mutated after he got bit, yours changed in the ghost portal.”

“That's an idea.” Tucker pulled out his PDA, never without it, and pressed some buttons. Out slide a small slide. He commanded Danny to spit on it, who did after lifting an eyebrow, and set a software program to work. When it finished, the device beeped and he turned the screen to show the results to his friends. “Sam was right.”

Danny looked at the PDA with a confused look on his face, not understanding what he was seeing. Sam wasn't quite sure what she was looking at either, but she knew it wasn't normal DNA.

“We have to tell your parents Danny.”

“My parents? The ghost hunters? What do you think would happen if I told them? Let me tell you, needles. And most likely scalpels too.”

Sam exhaled harshly. “It's a little hard to hide, don't you think?” She swept an arm up and down Danny's body. 

“Well, if I'm half ghost, I'm also half human right? So, I should be able to -” A ball of blueish white light appeared over Danny's belly button. It quickly turned into a ring, which split in two, and then each traveled along his body. One towards his feet and one towards his head. As the rings did so, Danny's usual appearance came back. The black hair, blue eyes, jeans, sneakers, and baggy tee.

“Cool.” He switched between ghost and human appearances a few times before Sam hit him upside the head.

He pouted while rubbing the spot and looking at her. 

Sam just rolled her eyes. “Fine, we don't have to tell your parents. I still don't think it's a bad idea, but I respect your decision.”

“Thanks.”

Tucker helped Danny to his feet, a process that required more aide than usual for even though he looked human Danny's left foot suddenly went intangible and phased through the floor.

“Good luck getting your parents to not notice that.”

“Yeah, thanks Tuck. But I'll have to, cuz I really don't like the idea of being a lab rat.”

Because that's what he would be, wouldn't he? Half ghost, half human. There were so many questions that sprang to mind at the concept and Sam knew that it wouldn't just be the Fentons who would be interested in answering them. 

No, maybe it was better to keep the whole thing a secret. It would keep Danny safer. She had experience with being different, it made you unaccepted and unliked. Parents, peers, teachers, shrinks, it wouldn't make a difference.

From now on, Danny was different, and more so than her chosen Goth lifestyle made her. And that just made daily life dangerous.

##### 

“Dude, did you just breathe smoke?” 

All three of them looked at the blue mist that that exited Danny's mouth.

“Can't be. Smoke's not cold. That felt like the first breath you take outside on a January morning.” As if to prove his point, he didn't it again, shivering.

“Uh, Danny?” Sam began, “I'm pretty sure that's a ghost behind you.”

He turned around on his bed and lo and behold there was a ghost behind him. It looked like an octopus, minus the glowing green skin, red eyes, and the fact it didn't really have eight tentacles. Great, what was he supposed to do with that?

“I suspect ghosts moving about in Amity Park would not be taken well. I'd suggest capturing it and throwing it back into the Ghost Zone.”

“Yeah.” Why did Sam have to be so practical? Danny really just wanted to get his algebra homework done. 

“Going Ghost!” He transformed and tried to herd the ghost back towards the basement. And by 'herd' he meant bet the snot out of it and then drag it to the lab, because it didn't seem to understand speech. Joy.

##### 

In hindsight, hiding the fact that he had some how become a ghost was harder than he expected. He would randomly fall through floors, turn wholly invisible, drop things as a body part went intangible, and hover at the worst times. Not to mention the whole exhaling frost thing when a ghost was near. 

The only power he had any sort of handle on was switching between ghost and human forms.

But really, how had his parents missed all that ghostly stuff? For a month? How had the entire student body at Casper High? It never missed a second of Dash wailing on him, but all the ghostly matters just slipped their attention. Or was brushed off as clumsiness like those 34 dropped beakers.

Danny wasn't sure if that was lucky or not. 

Sam was insisting they keep it under wraps, despite her early thought of telling his parents. It made him special she insisted, and he had to admit that when he went ghost and did a bit of flying he felt awesome. More Superman than Spider-Man, but still awesome. Despite all the problems having ghost powers gave him, it gave him some good moments too. Like sneaking into the girl's locker room.

Still, when he found a prototype ghost weapon on the kitchen table one morning and realized that unlike all the previous ones he inspected, back when he was fully human, this one hurt when he touched it. He tossed it into the trash and ignored his dad's head scratching. 

Living in a house, surrounded by things that could cause him pain, was a dangerous life. He should tell his parents. He really should. But things just kept getting in the way. Inventions, Jazz, side-tracked conversations. It got harder and harder to bring up the subject. Until, eventually, Danny stopped trying and instead focused on keeping his mutation or whatever it was a secret. 

And he had to admit, it did make his life a whole lot cooler. 

Who didn't like feeling like a super hero when chasing down etcopi?


	2. Parental Bonding

As a princess, Dorathea wasn't used to be told 'no'. Even from her mother the queen. She was the charming girl who had her parents wrapped around her finger much to the chagrin of her brother.

So, being told she couldn't go to the ball made no sense! Of course she would get angry. You don't punish misbehaving princesses in a way that could mess up relations with other kingdoms, not that she was being punished to begin with.

No, her mom said she couldn't go to the princess costume ball because of safety. 

“Sion is a country at war. I understand that the nobility is trying to keep up the moral of the kingdom with this ball, but it would require you to travel wholly across their lands and I cannot allow you to be in such danger.”

When Dorathea had turned to appeal to her father, he had simply said, “Listen to your mother.”

As it turns out, mother did know best. Because Dorathea stole an amulet from the royal treasure that was said to enable one to gain great power if attacked and when she was attacked and given the power of a dragon it turned out her attackers were skilled in dragon killing. She died, full of rage at her mother's refusal and the swords of Sion nationals, and became a ghost. 

##### 

Valerie couldn't say she actually like liked Qwan. He was nice to look at sure, all the football players put in time at the gym, but beyond eye candy there wasn't much there. It was no problem that he had similar thoughts about her. And so, when the deadline to buy tickets for the dance came along, they had decided to go as a couple. As friends.

She found herself looking forward to it more than she expected and so it had to be disappointment, not jealously, that crept into her life with the admittance of Donna into Qwan's life. 

Donna Marmel was not from Casper High, but rather Cougar High from the next town over. And Qwan fell for her, in that puppy dog way of his. Fell strong enough that when he asked if Valerie would mind if he took Donna instead of her, Valeria couldn't say no.

It was what friends did. Step aside for love that wasn't tainted because the other side of the pair wasn't crazy or something.

So she brushed of Donna's 'yes' and Qwan leaving her dateless with a flick of her wrist. It wouldn't do to show how much she had been looking forward not to the dance, but to dancing with Qwan. And to hide that feeling was the only reason she said yes to Tucker.

Who stood her up anyway.

She didn't know if she wanted to watch Qwan and Donna dance anyway.


	3. One of a Kind

As soon as Connie smelled a Story, she'd find the meat and chomp her fangs on it. Interviewing Maddie Fenton wasn't a story, she could tell the moment she walked into the house. Too clean, too normal. Not a single sign of genius. 

That didn't mean this cover piece wasn't worth _Genius_ , just that it wouldn't stand out among all the other issues the magazine published. Maddie would reveal nothing that could change the world. 

But when the son Danny walked in, with messy hair and tired eyes, Connie smelt it. A Story. Danny was involved with something that would have a profound impact on the world, and soon. 

Pity he wasn't in the mood to talk to her. 

So instead, Connie followed him. 

She pulled into the local zoo, jimmied the lock, and picked up a map. By the light of her cell phone, she read it and walked along the paths. Connie had never thought of zoos as creepy places before, but now she kept hearing animals shuffling around. Logically, she knew she was safe. It didn't stop her mind from screaming 'lion attack' every few minutes. 

Connie reached Sampson's cage just as Danny made his discovery. “Holy cow, Sampson's just a Sam!”

“What's that supposed to mean?” the goth girl with him asked. 

“I mean, Sampson's a girl! He's, she's, got no boy parts.”

“What, really?” The two other teens crouched down to Danny's level to peer rather unabashedly at the gorilla's groin. Connie was surprised the gorilla wasn't attacking them. Was Danny Fenton a genius and animal whisper? Think of all the good he could do.

She pulled out her camera and took a picture of Danny patting Samson's neck. The flash caught all three teens unaware and she wasn't surprised to see Danny fall into a fighting pose. Geniuses took pride in their work and would always defend it.

Connie stepped into the light of the exhibit, and all three teens let out a sigh of relief. 

“I just knew there was something about you, Danny Fenton!”


	4. Attack of the Killer Garage Sale

Dash believed in true love, but don't you dare suggest that he did or he'd stuff you in a locker. And not only did he believe in true love, he also believed in love at first sight.

Please, if you value your life, don't mention to his face that he had seen Jasmine Fenton several times before being smitten. 

“I can't wait to tell the story to our kids. I was at practice, getting ready to throw a ball when the sun was in my eyes. Except, it wasn't the sun. It was the light reflecting from Jazz's hair and it was so beautiful I froze and watched until she got in her car.” Dash sighed, imagining the little kids with their wide eyes staring at him. 

“And then, the next day, I asked if she could help me with math and the rest is history.”

His dog yipped at the story's end but Dash just sighed. His grandkids would be the best grandkids ever, always asking for stories and coming to see him in the nursing home. They would also all be ginger.

* * *

Sam hated Denmark. Capital H and all. Okay, she really just hated her school. The coast was pretty cool to look at, the rail system was awesome, and the food delicious. But her school was awful.

From day one, she found herself in a crowd of girls and boys. _You come from America? That's amazing! Where do you live? Really! That's a high end part of town! Can I come over?_ Show off a new gold bracelet, talking about the exclusive backstage pass you had, and you had it made.

But it quickly became obvious that wealth wasn't the only thing that determined the pecking order. What mattered was world status. What your parents did. If your dad was the Ambassador to Sweden, you ranked higher than the children of his staff. If your mom was the royal decent of a long destroyed European country, if you were, essentially, a princess, you ruled the school. Company executives, NGO workers, expats who lived off the interest of previous generations, all ranked less. Those parents didn't do anything on a grand scale, not really.

Guess what type Sam's parents were? Yes, she had access to a lot of money. Yes, her mother worked at home as a 60s style blogger. And yes, her father was a lawyer for Amnesty International. 

Yes, by the end of her second month she had gone from a popular new girl to the girl with no power. It stung, more so because it wasn't something she had control over. She wasn't demoted because of personality, or anything like that. She went from twenty friends to two overnight because her parents weren't important. It didn't matter that they had enough money to probably buy the American embassy and force them to move to another building. 

Dollars were worthless. 

And so too, she discovered over the years, was parental power. The Arab prince was a snob that Sam was pretty sure was going to lead his country to war if he couldn't keep his temper under wraps. The German ambassador's daughter always had the worst grades of the class. But it was the Save the Children's director's daughter who was going to solve world hunger. It was the son of the local branch of Coca Cola's headquarters who was going to be the next Ambassador to Egypt. 

What mattered, Sam learned, was not your current status but where you would be in in the future. She had a good feel for such things, she discovered, helping her father decided what start-up company to invest in every Christmas. 70% of her choices went on to be successful. 

When they moved back to Amity Park after a few years in Copenhagen, Sam knew she could find herself back in the spotlight again. Show a little cash, wear her diamond earrings, and life would be free from the harassment and teasing she had gotten in Denmark. But she knew that the people around her would be just as shallow as those embassy brats and so instead looked for teens who in the future would be great people.

She found Danny Fenton, future savior of the world, and Tucker Foley, future youngest mayor of Amity Park and Illinois Congressman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things that always trip me up is how long the trio actually knows each other. Through out the series there's evidence that they don't know everything about each other Sam tells Danny about Tuck's needle fear and Tuck tells Sam about Danny's Christmas issue. I'm guessing Tuck has known both of them separately than Danny and Sam have known each other or they've been together as a group. But it's also obvious they were in the same second grade class. I'm making a big guess to say Tucker was close to Sam before she moved away, and then hung out with Danny more and they formed a trio shortly after Sam's family moved back. Big guess, and I'm not super confident about it. If anyone has something more solid for me, I'd love to hear it.


	5. Splitting Images

No self-respecting fourteen year old boy wants to be told to do a late audition for a play because he looks better in the costume than the lead actress. 

"No way Conner! I'm not going to be Eliza." Danny slammed his locker shut and turned to get away from the student director, but the senior also ran track in the spring and quickly got in his face.

"Danny, you're perfect! I can just see the big reveal, Eliza's walking down the stairs and showing just how much she's improved. You could pull it off so well!"

"I can't sing her part, even if you kicked me in the nuts. I can't sing, period. My answer is no!"

Conner put a hand out to prevent Danny from entering English. "I'll get Madison to sing off stage. At least come to the auditorium at lunch and read a few lines."

"What's this?" Mr. Lancer asked, walking up to the two teens. 

"I'm trying to convince Danny to audition for the play."

"You know Mr. Osborne, I think that's a wonderful idea. Consider it an extra credit assignment, Mr. Fenton."

Danny groaned as he slipped under Conner's arm, around Mr. Lancer's belly, and into his chair. He'd go read lines, but botch it up so bad Conner changed his mind.

* * *

"What's playing, Skulker boy?" 

Skulker ignored Ember and kept tinkering with something in his arm. He was muttering to himself and Ember took a few steps forward to listen. "I'll get that ghost boy yet. Once I get rid of this dang virus. I can just imagine him stuffed and next to my door. I can hang my keys on his fingers."

"Um, Skulker."

He started and turned around. "Ember! When did you get here?"

"A few measures ago. What's this about a ghost boy?"

"Nothing."

"Uh-huh. It's just that, Technus was talking about something similar yesterday. Got his butt sent back to the Ghost Zone by this part ghost kid."

"He's _my_ prey!" Skulker shouted and Ember put her hands up. 

"He's all yours! So, tell me more about the ghost boy?"

Skulker went back to his tinkering. "I don't know how it happened, but he's a human with ghost powers. He can use all of them on the human plane, invisibility, intangibility, ectobeams. He also switches between two forms. A black haired, blue eyed teen and-"

"A ghost with white hair and green eyes wearing a jump suit?"

"How'd you know?"

"Technus isn't the only ghost talking about him. This 'Danny Phantom' character has the entire Ghost Zone in a mess."

"Can you imagine his pelt? I wonder if I skin him if it'll be like him, half a ghost, half a boy-"

"I'd settle for half a date with you." Ember rolled her eyes. Skulker was always distracted by some pray or another. 

"Halfa, you say? That's a great name. Danny Phantom, Halfa." Skulker ran his hands in the air like someone imagine a newspaper headline. "Nah, I like ghost boy better. More distinctive."

And that, and the ten half dates they went one which usually didn't go past meeting each other, is why Ember passed on the label of 'halfa' to the rest of the ghosts.


	6. What You Want

Desiree kept her head down and her hair in front of her face. She had been the uncomfortable, often missed over middle child. Not old enough to have a proper job and not young enough to need constant. She had helped around the house, cleaning and the like, but there were other children at the brothel to do that too. 

The owner didn't need another mouth to feed.

And so Desiree stood on the stone podium, next to two of her sisters, and like four of her brothers had been just a short time ago all three of them would be sold as slaves.

She hadn't expected much better for her life to be honest. Desiree had fully believed her life would match her mother's once she was old enough to work in the brothel. It was it's own type of slavery, serving the master of the house, but at least that was in a familiar place and should would be wearing silk instead of burlap. And there would be no iron collar around her neck.

Jasmine was crying, she was a year younger than Desiree and Fatima, and Desiree ached to stretch out a hand to brush the tears away. But she couldn't, not chained as she was. So Desiree kept her head down, not wanting to watch the crowd and see who bought her, and listened to Jasmine cry. She wanted to do the same, but would wait. She had seen what had happened to emotional women who displayed their feelings in front of the house owner. It was never happy.

The auctioneer was talking, shouting into the air about their work history and strengths, taking bids, but Desiree didn't pay attention until he came to her. A prod in her lower back had her step forward. The auctioneer yanked on her hair to force her head up for a moment and then let go to direct her into a turn.

"Strong and healthy she is, and a good cook! And look at these hands, perfect for scrubbing pots. She's got all her teeth, and look at this glossy hair. Eleven years old, and you can already see the beautiful lady she'll be in the future. Offers, offers?"

Two gold pieces. She felt a little smug knowing the master of the house had been expecting more for her. 

Her sisters were nudged off the stone stage and Desiree followed along behind them until they reached the girl pen. Right now, their owners would be paying and soon they would come to collect them. While she hadn't actually paid attention to who bought all of them, Desiree knew none of them would be going to the same place. Life didn't work that way.

Jasmine was still crying and Fatima did her best to hug here.

"Hey," Desiree brought up her chained hands to lift up little sister's face. "Just remember what your mom said, okay?"

"Take care of myself?" she sniffled.

"No. But do that too. I mean what she says about work, and the other women follow it too. Give someone what they want, make them happy, and you'll be treated well."

"Do as you're told," Fatima added, "And if you can give people their desires you'll get some of yours too."

"Promise?"

"Yes," Desiree said, but she knew deep down that while that might work for whores it might not work for the rest of the world. It was filled with cruel people and cruel situations. Jasmine would learn that soon enough. Right now, this was most likely the last time she would see Jasmine and Fatima, her sisters in everything but blood. Desiree wanted it to be a time of smiles, even if they were watery.

They desired hope, and so she gave it to them and in response she felt it rise in her just a tad.

* * *

"Follow me." 

Desiree gave a quick look to Kamal before following in line behind the tall man. It was a miracle that one of her brothers had been bought by the same person and even if they never spoke again catching glimpses of each other around their future home made her feel less alone.

She looked around at the other slaves. Two young boys, Kamal and another, as well as three men whose muscles make Desiree think they were for fighting or manual labor. She was the only female.

Desiree kept close to her new master, heading the small line of slaves, and admiring the man's clothes. At the very least, this man had more wealth than the master of the house. 

A lot more, she amended as all six of them were led to none other than the palace.

White walls surrounded it and from above them Desiree could see the onion shaped bronze tower toppers reflecting the sunlight. The arched windows were lined in bronze paint and she caught sight of bright blue and green from curtains blowing in the breeze. The tall man led them through a door and Desiree found herself in a garden. 

A real garden! The only plants she had ever seen were the vegetables in market but here were small thick green hedges and flowers. And was that a tree?

"You!" the tall man called to a bent over woman and as she walked towards the group he pushed Desiree towards the woman. "Take her to the kitchen."

Desiree glanced briefly over her shoulder at Kamal before she was dragged away.

* * *

The cook stared down at her, frowning. "I was hoping for someone less skinny, but you'll do." He pushed Desiree towards a large pile of dirty pots. "Clean those. The pump is outside and around the corner to the left. You can find soap there."

She had been hoping for a little bit of a break. Desiree had spent the last night on the sandy ground instead of sharing a mattress with four other children, and she hadn't sat down since waking this morning. She could do with a tiny rest, but she knew that would never happen. She was a slave. She was only her to do the bidding of others. 

Her words to Jasmine not too long ago filled her head. Most of the women in the pleasure house had lived by a similar motto - give others what they what and you'll be okay.

It would work for her too, it had to.

With a meek bow, Desiree gathered up a handful of pots and started to take them outside. She would be the best kitchen worker the cook had ever seen, and then maybe she'd get good food. Or a kind word. At least, she would avoid any future wrath.

* * *

The auctioneer had been right, she did grow into a beauty. At fifteen she was no longer in the kitchen cleaning and stirring pots. Desiree was in the palace, holding plates and serving the Sultan and other officials.

If they wanted her to stand in the corner, she did that. If they wanted her to feed them with her fingers, she did that to. She dressed how they liked her too, kept quite at their touches, and was rewarded with soft pillows to sleep on, a meal that wasn't kitchen scraps, and gold jewelry. 

And when the Sultan asked her one day "Would you like to join my harem?" Desiree simply bowed and said, "If that is your wish."

* * *

Sheba looked her up and down, made a slight adjustment to the sheer veil in front of Desiree's face, and then nodded. "If I remember correctly, this will be your first time."

Desiree nodded. "I'm not unaware of the process though. My mother was a whore."

"Knowing about something, or even watching it as a child, does not make you knowledgeable. Do you have any questions?"

Sheba was being very kind. Desiree had seen similar situations before, when one of her sisters was old enough to start working at the house or a new girl showed up. At the pleasure house, it had usually been a brief thing. Behind that door is a man. You will do what he asks you to do, take his money, and afterwords you will drink this tea. Now get in there. Sheba at least wanted to make sure she was fully informed.

"I...want to give him what he desires most. You have been with him longest, what does he like?"

Sheba looked at her and Desiree thought she wasn't going to get an answer at first. "I will lose my position if I tell you everything, learn them for yourself. But I will give you one piece of advice - don't be quite."

* * *

"If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be?" the Sultan asked one night.

Desiree looked out the window to the city outside. And then back to the naked man besides her.

What she wanted most was freedom, power, and it seemed the only person who had that was one who ruled.

"A kingdom," she whispered. But she knew she would never get it. She was a harem girl, not the Sultan's wife, and thus had very little freedom or power. 

"A what?" he asked.

"I just want you to have your heart's desire." She turned back to him and kissed him hard.

* * *

Making others happy, especially the Sultan, had Desiree taking Sheba's position as the favorite member of his harem within two years of joining. It was, Desiree supposed, the best life she could have hoped for. All her needs were taken care of: she was dressed in unrivaled finery, at the richest food, did not have to care for her own son, and did not have to be worried about being harassed.

She hadn't considered the potential negative side however. 

The Sultan died and he wished to be buried with his favorite possessions.

His wife said that included her.

So she granted wishes in life, so she would do in death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the show has a slightly different back story for Desiree, she dies of old age and a broken heart, but I never felt it connected with the idea of ghosts following life obsessions and Desiree's own branch of power. She gives other people what they desire, not goes seeking to get her own.


	7. Bitter Reunions

Danny had never, ever been a good student. A B made him happy and was worth a homemade ice cream sundae to celebrate, but it just made Jazz roll her eyes and his mom sigh as if she was wondering where she had gone wrong.

C average, that was him.

Or rather, it used to be.

He cringed as got a D on an essay, and then a F on two tests. Slipping grades was just a delayed effect of ghost fighting. The lack of sleep and aches showed up right away, but he should have known that his school work would suffer too. 

Danny stuffed his math and science tests into the bottom of his backpack, vowing that neither of his parents, or Jazz, would heard about them. He could fall back a bit on ghost hunting, most of the ones he came across were harmless spirits who just freaked out the people of Amity Park by poking their heads into running showers or stealing food from the fridge. Harmless, really, and not pressing matters. 

But Danny dismissed the thought as soon as it crossed his mind. There was no telling if a ghost was bad, good, or just annoying until he saw it and that meant chasing every wisp of his ghost sense. He had ghost powers, and with it came a self imposed sense of responsibility to use them for good and protect the town. Sending ghosts back to the Ghost Zone was more important than knowing the steps of cell reproduction.

If only his parents agreed.

"Danny, we got a call from school today."

He froze in the act of opening the front door, scared to cross the threshold. His mom was standing in the living room, tapping her foot, while his dad stood behind her fiddling with some invention.

"Did Mr. Lancer want you guys to chaperon some thing again?"

"No. Apparently, you're grades are slipping. And you're sleeping in class."

"Look, it's just been a tough two weeks." More like two months, but he wasn't going to share that information.

"I don't care. You will redo every question on that math test and Jazz will check it before you're allowed dinner. And from now on, you're to show us your homework every night before bed."

"Mom, seriously?"

"Yes. Danny, school is very important. You know that."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay." But there was more important things. And those would always come first.

* * *

Vlad had never been much of a sport fan. His dad had watched baseball sometimes on TV, but that was it. He had never even gone to any game during his university years, though Jack had tried several times to get him to buy season tickets for football games.

He had simply never seen the draw. Athletes were over paid and provided no real value to the world as a whole. Not like doctors or teachers or scientists like him who strove to understand the world more fully and share that knowledge. 

Still, when two tickets to a Packer's game were thrust into his hand they were hard to ignore.

For one, it was his first day out of the hospital after the accident with the proto portal. It deserved some sort of celebration but he had no money for it. Free tickets was better than nothing, even if he had them simply because the woman who forced them into his hand no longer wanted to go because her boyfriend had been hit by a car while they were walking to the field. 

Someone else might have said those tickets were cursed, but Vlad was pretty sure Jack's curse was worse and nothing about those tickets would do him harm.

By the time he got to Lambo Field, there was only two minutes on the clock in the second quarter. Vlad didn't mind being late, though it was rather difficult to make his way to his seat when everyone was leaving the stands for a half time pee and pretzel. He sat there in his seat, arms crossed and while not regretting he had come at least wondering if this would be a waste of time or not.

And then the third quarter started. And the Packers scored against the Lions during their first possession. 

The stands exploded with cheers. People stood up and stamped their feet, cupped their hands around their mouths and hooted towards the field. The air was filled with such positive energy and enthusiasm that Vlad couldn't help but be swept up in it. 

For the entire second half he cheered and booed at plays, shook his fist at the opposing players, and unconditionally fell in love with the Packers. Here was a group of men who struggled, but overcame obstacles, worked hard and reaped the benefits, who had some how made this afternoon the best he could recall having in years. 

He didn't have much money, hospital bills and the like for the ectoacne, but he couldn't resist buy a jersey on his way out with the crowd. Sports, football, was now his thing and the Packers were his team.


	8. Prisoners of Love

In hindsight, Alicia wasn't sure why she got married. Sure, Travis had been tall, good looking, made a lot of money. But as soon as that ring was on her finger things...changed.

She had always loved Travis's ambition. Until he was more focused on trading stocks then giving her attention. Late nights, early morning, anyone else and Alicia would have thought her husband was having an affair. Instead, he was just in love with his job. And the power, respect, and money it gave him. 

Alicia was an independent woman. And sure, maybe she didn't make as much money as he did as a female body builder. But she didn't, like he insisted, need Travis's money. 

She got married for the love and attention he gave her. If that was gone, what was the point?  
To prove, to him and to herself just how much she didn't need Travis, Alicia moved from their penthouse apartment in NYC to a rustic cabin in Spittoon. She could have moved anywhere and had any life, Maddie wasn't the only brains in the family, but Spittoon grew on her in a way she hadn't expected.

Everything out there was earned. Nothing was given. And she found love and comfort from nature in a way she had never expected.


	9. My Brother's Keeper

The first thing Jazz thought as she headed home was how good of friends Danny had. And then she felt a little jealous because she didn't have any like that herself.

She frowned at that and shook the thought off. There were more important things to think about. Like her brother's secret.

Danny - a ghost! 

It was incredible, and sad and scary and how had she not noticed? She noticed everything! From the little details of her parents' relationship to the issue of her fellow students. Jazz had known something was up with Danny, that much was obvious and so had pushed him to see the counselor, pushed him to open up, but she had never expected something like this!

She didn't really blame him from not telling her. 

But for Danny to have ghost powers....

Her first question was how. How did he get them. Was he...was he even alive? She stumbled into the front door. What if Danny wasn't actually alive anymore? What if he was some type of...of...of corpsewalker?

Jazz shuddered. How awful. 

The next question was when? How long had Danny been like this? Days? No, if it was linked to the odd behavior she had been seeing lately it had to have been months ago.

And she never noticed.

She was the worst big sister ever. 

Jazz entered her bedroom and slumped onto the bed. Her brother was most likely dead and had been for awhile. So where did that leave them?

Well, nothing had really changed. Danny was still her brother and Jazz was still his sister. They had been bickering and rolling eyes at each other for months, like nothing had changed on Danny's end. That was comforting, to know that the important parts hadn't changed. 

There was the sound of the door opening and closing downstairs. Danny, coming home. Steeling her nerve, Jazz made her way down to the kitchen to see Danny with a plate of leftovers in front of him.

She wanted to ask about being part ghost, but she didn't know how to bring it up. Well, at the very least she could figure out if he was actually dead. He looked to be breathing and when she pinched his skin he was arm and it obviously hurt. Danny felt human.

Normal, she thought to herself. They were just an average brother and sister, and Danny needed to know that she thought he was a great guy. He didn't really believe her. She tried to tell him that she was an open line of communication, that he could talk to her.

And that seemed to do the trick. Danny opened his mouth, eyes downcast and serious, when as usual their father caused some type of accident. In this case, vaporize the couch. And then talk about how the new weapon in his hand would peel the atoms off a ghost. 

Jazz didn't blame Danny for keeping it a secret from his parents, and didn't blame him for not wanting to talk to her about it right then. That talk could be for later. Right now, she was just glad that her brother was warm and alive. And that he had such good friends as Sam and Tucker to watch out for him.


End file.
